Potentially the COOLEST tool I've seen on the Web this year - PERIOD!

Ok, so the story goes like this...

I'm talking to Tal Newhart today, and he sort of casually mentions that his "nephew and some of his pals" have launched this new website. Well, I'm thinking it is some kind of MySpace page, or whatever. Then, I go to the Website at Animoto.com and what I find there CHANGES MY LIFE FOREVER! Seriously, it is that amazing.

What they'e done is to create a site where you can sign up, add your photos (or have it get your photos from an online site such as Flickr or Picassa or Photobucket or Trikepilot Social), pick a musical soundtrack or upload your own, and then ask it to generate a unique music video (slideshow). While you are waiting for it to be generated and a link sent to you, the site gives you a ton of interesting toys and links to play with (obviously how they fund the site).

In a couple minutes, a link is sent to you with your completed video. Now, I've been editing my videos for six years or more, and have used almost EVERY video editing tool, including those from Apple. What Animoto has done here is REMARKABLE. The video comes back as if it were done by some high-priced producer in Los Angeles. The cuts, wipes, fades, drop-ins, everything..amazing.

So simple that anyone can use it. Below is a 30 second sample I made in about ten seconds of work. See if you agree that this is going to change videos on the internet: